


but you're special

by mak (cold_blue_eyes)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 00:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13692780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cold_blue_eyes/pseuds/mak
Summary: Stiles finds something that could put Derek's life in danger and decides to warn him about it. Only his feelings for the man come to wash over him like a wave.However, there's a chance he's not the only one that feels something.





	but you're special

**Author's Note:**

> This is an experimental thing since I haven't been particularly active in any fandom for some time. Maybe Stiles and Derek are a bit OOC, I don't know, I tried to make them be more adults than they are - but then, this thing happens years down the road anyway.

_ I need to talk to you. Can I come by? _

Years ago Stiles would have never imagined himself sending that message to Derek Hale of all people. Neither would he expect a message back from the man within seconds, giving him a positive answer. Things were different now, that much was clear.

After hours of nervous driving, he finally reached the two-lane road in the woods. Stiles only came to Shelter Cove the one time, when Derek moved his things to this house that belonged to his family once. The town didn’t change much since Stiles was last here, and he still knew the way to Derek’s house without needing to check the address. 

Roscoe sputtered to a stop when Stiles killed the engine. He parked the old Jeep on the corner of Magnolia Court and Pine Road, where the two-story house rose over the hill, overlooking the trees and the ocean far below. The walls had changed colors from the last time Stiles had seen them, and the front garden was full of life now. The sight of it brought images to Stiles’ mind, a happy family spending weekends on the beach, wolves running in the woods, howls echoing in the air on the night of the full moon. 

After everything that went down Stiles wondered how could he conjure such images. Maybe time did heal all wounds.

He didn’t have to wait before the front door of the house opened and Derek greeted him with a slight wave. Stiles felt his chest expand with a warmth that pooled in his stomach at the sight of him. Derek had a full beard covering his face, and his eyes crinkled with the way his lips curled up just slightly. 

Any pressure from life and work and the supernatural instantly disappeared from Stiles’ body. He waved back from his seat in the car. 

Derek came walking down the steps. Stiles got out of the Jeep to face Derek when the man reached the sidewalk. 

“You okay?” Derek seemed worried behind his relaxed façade. Stiles rolled his shoulders and shuffled his feet while he thought of an answer. 

“I don’t know, man.” Stiles sighed heavily, feeling some of the tension vanishing. Being this close to Derek made breathing somehow easier.

Without saying a word Derek eyed Stiles up and down, gaze deep and concerned. It left Stiles feeling exposed.

Derek motioned with his head to the Jeep. “Did you bring anything with you?”

Stiles nodded but didn’t move from where he was. Derek opened his hand, palm up in front of Stiles, who took a beat to catch on what Derek wanted from him. He offered his keys a moment later. 

As if he knew Roscoe all his life, Derek didn’t take a second to open the lock that usually gave Stiles trouble. The man took the duffle bag that was inside and hoisted it up his right shoulder, closing the trunk a moment later.

“I’ll make you some tea and you can tell me what happened,” offered Derek before starting up the steps. Stiles followed him.

Stiles knew he was being unusually silent.

As they ascended the steps Stiles couldn’t help but stare at Derek. The man wasn’t simply a friend anymore, he became someone a lot more important to Stiles than  _ just  _ that. The whole pack had shifted places as they grew up, and no one was the same, that was for sure. Still, it was hard to know exactly where they were at the moment, because in the past Stiles and Derek had always seemed at odds with each other, but then one saved the other, more than once, and things changed.

When they got inside Derek parked Stiles duffle bag beside the blue sectional that took up most of the space in the living room. There was a coffee table in the middle and two armchairs around a faded carpet on the hardwood floor. 

Stiles yawned.

“I’ll get you that tea in a minute,” announced Derek, bringing Stiles’ attention to himself. His eyes lingered on Stiles’s form a moment too long before he turned around and walked away.

It was only after Derek left the room that Stiles realized his shirt had ridden up, exposing the trail of hair down his navel.

“No coffee?” Asked Stiles, partly wanting Derek to turn back to him. He adjusted his shirt before Derek settled his gaze on him again.

“I have no coffee in the house, Stiles.” Derek seemed almost judgemental in the way he said that, and Stiles lifted his hands in surrender. Maybe it was the bags under his eyes. Maybe Derek could just see what was underneath Stiles’ skin.

“Hopefully I can survive without it.”

Derek snorted. “You need to lay off of caffeine. Your Dad has a heart condition already.”

“Are you going to start watching my food?”

“If you don’t take care of yourself, and if no one does that for you, maybe I will.” There was a slight challenge to Derek’s words. 

“No time for finding someone to take care of me in my job,” admitted Stiles with honesty, even though he’d like to have turned that into a joke.

Derek didn’t make a comment, but his eyes seemed to have a thousand words in them. He walked out of the living room and went to putter around in the kitchen, probably making noise for Stiles’ sake. 

The couch smelled like Derek when Stiles sat down. He tried to burrow himself into it just a little. 

Looking at Derek now, Stiles could see that this place was doing the man some good. When he moved here years ago, Derek had been tired of going back and forth between Beacon Hills and the East Coast. Once he decided on coming back to California, Derek wanted some distance from Beacon Hills. 

Stiles never faulted him for that, since he was avoiding Beacon Hills too. If he didn’t have pack and family there, Stiles wasn't sure he’d ever go back.

“Here’s your tea,” said Derek as he walked back to the living room. The sweatpants he wore hung low on his hips and pooled around his heels, leaving only naked toes out. Stiles felt self-conscious for still having his shoes on inside.

He extended his arm to get the offered mug, but Derek sat beside him, leaning close to Stiles as he adjusted himself on the couch and passed him the tea. 

Stiles didn’t want to move away from the warmth that emanated from Derek.  

“Thanks.” Stiles sipped his hot drink slowly. Red fruit wasn’t his favorite, but when Derek offered him something, Stiles was loath to refuse. It didn't taste bad, anyway.

His eyes roamed around the room because they didn’t want to find Derek’s own. Once they did Stiles was sure he wouldn’t let him go, and he was tired and weathered at the moment. It was never a good idea to let his insecurities show themselves around Derek Hale.

The man drank his tea quietly, looking out the window. 

The sun was almost gone and soon the darkness would fall around them. 

“You okay?” Derek asked again, not looking Stiles’ way at first.

Stiles sighed, feeling his body sagging into the couch. His left leg brushed Derek’s thigh, and the point of contact spread warmth through him.

He drank another sip of his tea.

“I had to take a time away from LA and-” Stiles looked to the side and caught Derek glancing his way. He paused. Derek’s eyes were open and understanding, even if he seemed just a tad eager to know of Stiles’ reason to be here. 

Thoughts of all the things Stiles came to learn recently in this new venture he’s been invited to be a part of inside the FBI clouded his head. Never he thought he would feel so unsure about the career he loved so much, like he was finding his way with eyes closed.

“I was transferred to LA because the powers that be decided it was high time to form some kind of supernatural division in the Bureau, only they didn’t know at first how to accomplish that. When I was invited to it I thought it would be a fantastic idea to marry both halves of my life, but-” Stiles paused again, trying to control the excitement that still shimmered inside him when he thought of this opportunity that had seemed so incredible back then.

One of Derek’s hands found Stiles’ knee and squeezed it gently. Stiles couldn’t help the shiver that made even his hands shake, and Derek felt that too.

He took a deep breath before he continued.

“They have these research projects going on to find out more about the supernatural. I worked for some weeks with the selkies up the East Coast. It was enlightening, and an incredible experience, to be honest. But as soon as I moved down here I started to see things differently. Even though some of the higher-ups seem interested in helping people like... you, or people like us, most of them are not willing to do that unless there’s some kind of, well, some kind of benefits to the force.”

“What do you mean?” Derek asked. Stiles breathed deeply. Speaking out loud always made him feel less constricted, but this time he felt like he was treading dangerous waters with every word.

“As far as I could tell, one of the reasons they are starting this unit is to recruit creatures, find out what they can do, and use them in situations where human lives can be spared.” Derek only nodded to that, not expressing his opinion. However, Stiles could see just tiny shreds of doubt and fear in his face.

Stiles shared that feeling.

“You don’t like this idea,” stated Derek, as if he could feel with his senses the turmoil inside Stiles. 

He probably could.

“You don’t like it either,” said Stiles. Derek’s lips curled up a smidge.

Derek squeezed Stiles’ knee again, then leaned forward to put his mug on the coffee table. He offered to take Stiles’ mug too.

“I believe there are people out there that would want to be a part of something like that.”

“I know,” agreed Stiles. “But from what I’ve seen there won’t be such a thing as wanting to be a part of it, it doesn’t seem like people will have much of a choice.” And just as Stiles said it, the tension in Derek’s shoulders became visible. 

“What do you think about it?”

Stiles shook his head at loss. “I don’t know what to say. A part of me wanted to leave all of it behind when I found out, but-”

“But you can’t,” said Derek for him.

Their eyes met, and in that moment Stiles remembered that Derek knew him well.

“Another part of me wants to go further into this and find a way to, I don’t know, change their minds or at least make the most so people can be safe, so they know what they are getting themselves into. This week I got a chance to read some archives on creatures they got a hold of, or others they want to do research on and I-” Stiles stopped talking and shook his head again.

“What happened?”

“I saw a file on you, Derek.” Stiles could see that Derek didn’t express anything at first, and then he nodded.

“They have a file on me?”

“Yes. There’s not much info, nothing beyond public records, but you’re on their list. And I don’t know if it’s because I mentioned some things about the pack and werewolves, but they just seemed-” Stiles pressed his lips closed, frustration overcoming him. He rubbed his eyes with one hand. 

Derek reached out to take Stiles’ other hand, and Stiles opened his eyes to see the closeness between them, their thighs touching and Derek right there, so soft to contradict how rough Stiles felt. He didn’t know if the man heard what he said, but just looking at his eyes, Stiles knew that Derek had heard him. Derek’s eyes couldn’t lie to Stiles, and he could see it all in them.

“You saw my name and wanted to warn me,” stated Derek. Stiles nodded. He didn’t know exactly how Derek felt about that, but he’d like to be able to sense emotions at the moment.

Especially when Derek surprised him with a light chuckle a second later.

At first, Stiles was stunned, but then anger flickered alive inside him, and he pulled his hands away from Derek, only the man didn’t let him do that.

“Hey, I’m not laughing at you or what you did, I’m just… surprised.”

“Surprised that I would be worried about you?” Stiles dared to look at Derek again, and in his eyes there was no mockery, only genuine surprise. 

“I can take care of myself, Stiles.” Stiles was ready to protest and say that he knew that, and that he wasn’t just trying to save Derek, but Derek stopped him before his tirade even began. “Thanks for telling me, though. Thank you for caring, Stiles. Sooner or later something like that would happen, especially with all the history with my family and the town.”

“But you don’t have to be a part of it, Derek. I can try and help you get out of it before they suck you in.”

Derek squeezed his hands once more.

“I have ways of saying no if I want to. But I wouldn’t mind helping out if it meant we’d get to work together every now and then. Someone said once that we make a pretty good pair, huh?”

Those words threw Stiles to a long gone past, that didn’t exactly bring the best memories to him, but it was enough to silence him for a beat. He thought of the implications of what Derek said.

“You’d work with me?”

“Absolutely,” the honest admission stunned Stiles enough for his heart to skip a beat.

“But I wouldn’t want someone to make you use your powers, Derek.”

“Perhaps that would be a good thing for me. I was never good at giving orders, anyway.” Derek shook his head. “You know I was never a good Alpha, Stiles.”

“But you’re better than a lot of the Alphas we knew and fought against.” 

Derek conceded that one to Stiles with a nod. “Still, it doesn’t change the fact that I wasn’t made for that. Maybe I could be better at following directions.”

Stiles felt at loss at the dejected tone Derek spoke. 

“I don’t know what to say.” Stiles bit his lower lip.

“I can take care of myself, Stiles,” Derek said again, and went on. “And I can always run away if I need to.” 

Those words frightened Stiles, and he wanted to say a loud ‘No!’. His hands twitched under Derek’s touch, and the man looked at him with uncertainty for just a moment, like he realized the impact of what he said on Stiles.

A sudden awkwardness seeped into their moment, and Stiles didn’t know how to act. Derek probably knew the feelings he had in him, the attraction that emanated from Stiles, or at least Stiles thought he knew. This urge to be close and take care of Derek was starting to border on unhealthy at the moment, only Stiles didn’t know how to tamp it down.

He looked down at his lap and tried to control his heartbeat. However, when Derek touched him with a hand on his cheek Stiles felt his chest expanding, and his heart started to beat even faster inside his ribcage. Derek’s hand was soft and warm, it smelled like earth and dead leaves. Stiles didn’t remember having Derek’s scent this close before. Nor did he remember having the man touching him so lovingly, and looking at him like  _ that  _ when Stiles glanced his way again.

For a beat neither said a thing. Derek just stared into Stiles’s eyes like he knew everything about him, like Stiles was part of him, and they were both something. Perhaps that was the truth, which Stiles only realized now.

Derek licked his lips.

“I’m glad you want to protect me. I’m glad at least someone wants to do that.” 

“I’m not the only one, though.”  

“But you’re special, Stiles.”

That made his heart skip another beat. Stiles thought it was time for him to see a doctor because his heart might not be strong enough for this. Wasn’t this moment something he’d been waiting forever, though?

Even before his eyes caught on the closing distance between him and Derek, Stiles felt Derek’s irregular breathing puffing close to his face. Derek seemed nervous, even if Stiles couldn’t believe it. It was hard to imagine that this man, the wolf, could be afraid of getting close to him.  

“Even after all these years, you’re still the same, you know?” Derek stopped right in front of Stiles, eyes open and his nose touching Stiles’ own.

Stiles snorted a nervous laugh. “Messy and a handful?”

Derek shook his head. His hand caressed Stiles’s cheek again, rounding down his neck until he grabbed Stiles by the nape. “Maybe that too, but I was going to say incredible, and impossible to let go.”

The praise didn’t help with Stiles’ cardiac situation. His cheeks got hot, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t loving all of that.

“Then,” Stiles started, licking his lips before continuing, “please, don’t let go?” Some vulnerability showed in that moment. Stiles was never able to hide anything from Derek.

“I don’t plan on it,” whispered Derek right before he closed the distance. Their lips touched, and the world became alight with color and sounds and scents.

-

It was later that night when they finally got up from the couch. Stiles couldn’t feel his lips, or maybe he just couldn’t feel anything else in his body. Derek had been pressing him against the cushions with his weight, enveloping Stiles in warmth and affection. In such a natural way they fell into a pattern to how their lips touched and their tongues wrapped themselves together. 

The taste of Derek’s tongue was addicting, but not like a drug Stiles couldn’t imagine living without, more like a dessert he wanted to slowly delight himself with. There was an urgency at the beginning of their kisses, but soon enough it gave way to a gentle dance.

“You can shower before dinner,” said Derek as he adjusted his sweats. They had been in danger of falling from his hips.

“You don’t want to come with me?” Asked Stiles, unsure, but excited. He could see Derek’s lips still red, and his eyes were huge and glued to Stiles.

“Not right now,” Derek said with some regret in his eyes right after the words came out. There were conflicting emotions in Derek’s face, but the most obvious one was a plea for some breathing time. The both of them had to think about this new development, and how it could change things between them.

Stiles nodded to Derek, slightly crestfallen. “We’ll have time later.” 

“You can take any towel from behind the door,” said Derek while Stiles grabbed his duffle from beside the couch, and then he moved to the kitchen.

Stiles stared at him, his eyes following the way Derek’s hips swayed just a little. The body of a werewolf was naturally stronger than a human’s, and Stiles could see it if he compared Derek to himself. However, the man now had fewer edges and more curves, and he was even more attractive that way.

Without thinking much Stiles went to the bathroom downstairs and breathed deeply after he closed the door. His body had different reactions to what happened, exhilaration and excitement and fear. He was still half hard, but a big part of him didn’t want to touch himself all alone in the shower, something the Stiles from years ago wouldn’t feel guilty for doing.

He laughed to himself before shedding his clothes and turning on the tap.

Stiles didn’t take long under the water, and when he finished his shower he reached for the towels behind the door, as Derek told him to. There were three in there. He took the first one his fingers managed to touch. Right when he brought it close to his face, Stiles smelled Derek in it.

He didn’t hesitate from taking a big gulp of air, trying to remember that scent before drying himself. 

Stiles hoped Derek wanted to smell him in that towel too.

-

“I’ve just made some pasta,” said Derek when Stiles walked into the kitchen, his hair still wet. There was no wind coming from the windows, but Stiles shivered for a moment.

Derek walked to him and wrapped his arms around Stiles, who rested his head on Derek’s shoulder. It was hard not to feel his heart fluttering inside. The way Derek held him was different from any other lover Stiles had ever had. It was special, as Derek said to him before.

“Do you know what’s this?” Asked Stiles, hesitantly. He raised his head, and Derek was looking at him up close, their noses almost touching. He could smell tomatoes and onions in Derek’s breath, like he ate pieces of it while he cooked the sauce for the pasta.

“Do we have to know it right now?” Asked Derek.

Stiles shook his head.

“Did you even think about this happening?”

Stiles was expecting Derek to say ‘no’, but he didn’t do anything at first. His eyes didn’t look into Stiles’ for a moment, finding something more interesting in Stiles’ lips, but when Derek looked up again Stiles wasn’t ready for the way that gaze bored into his.

“Werewolves can smell a lot of things, attraction being one of them.” The confirmation of the impossibility to hide awkward boners didn’t bother Stiles as much as he thought it would. His lips formed a smile, and Derek went on. “It’s not comfortable for me to sense that particular smell, you can imagine why. And I never really cared much when it happened, or tried not to.”

Stiles nodded but didn’t open his mouth. Derek leaned their foreheads together.

“But there are things that matter a lot more to me than attraction. Trust, truth and compassion, they become incredibly sexy and attractive when they come naturally. And I learned to trust you because you never lied to me. I learned to trust you because you saved me by risking your life, more than once, and I was always taught to cherish someone that risks their life for a wolf.”

Derek found Stiles’ hair with one hand and grabbed it. “Having you by my side was never something I planned, or wanted to have, to be honest. But every day that we lived apart made me see how different my life was with you in it.”

Breathing was difficult for just a moment, and Stiles had to swallow the emotion in his throat. Derek stepped back, but still kept Stiles in his reach.

“And do you want me in your life?” Stiles asked, his voice almost too quiet, for once.

“If you’ll have me, yes. I want you.” 

Stiles averted his eyes because there was an imminent threat of them starting to well up. It seemed all too fast and too soon for these declarations, but in a way it wasn’t. Derek got close to Stiles again and kissed him on his cheek, but only for a moment before Stiles turned to him and locked their lips. 

The kiss was wet and needy, but their mouths had found a rhythm before, so now they fell easily into it. Derek put an arm around Stiles’ shoulder and a hand behind his head, leaving his waist for Stiles to grasp if he wanted to hold onto something.

Maybe seconds passed, or hours, it was hard to know, but when they finally separated Stiles could feel his heart beating in his throat. He was hard, and Derek was too.

“Let’s eat?” Prompted Derek. Stiles couldn’t form words, so he nodded.

They both had to adjust themselves to sit at the dining table.

-

Stiles didn’t know how to find his ground in between the bouts of passion and the moments of quiet companionship of that evening, he felt like the ocean washing up the shore with no control on how far it could go. In contrast, he couldn’t help but feel complete and utterly at ease with the way Derek surprised him with a gesture or a word, or a kiss.

He had to think about the reason why he came here, and how it felt like this had been coming all along, but Stiles had no idea what the future would bring, neither did he want to know.

If he had learned something since he found out werewolves were real is that everything is possible. He was still counting on those silver linings in each tempestuous cloud that came his way.

  
  
  
  



End file.
